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Help needed Guinea Pig Virgin! NEED HELP BEFORE ANOTHER ONE DIES

  • Thread starter Thread starter LisaManship1980
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LisaManship1980

Could someone give me some advice. I have never owned guinea pigs before. I bought two males three weeks ago from pets at home on a saturday - named them ronaldo and akpo (player for port vale) anyway, by sunday morning ronaldo was dead. :'(took him back in the box to pets at home and had a replacement - Wayne (rooney).
introduction to akpo (later renamed asbo) didn't go very well, hence the name change, they kinda fought a tussled for a week. last saturday got them to be friends and all was well with much squeaking and general noise making and playing in cage. :)
weds night (last week) came home to find that wayne had died :'( - it would seem to be that he Pooped himself to death. poor asbo was in the corner not looking amused. :-\

wayne and asbo had been fed broccoli the day before - could this have killed him? they seemed to like it and i an't find anything on it on the web. he hadn't had any weird pooing sessions prior to the death.

not sure if i should get another pig? any thoughts? best way to introduce?

plus this afternoon whilst feeding asbo some grass have noticed that his nose is a bit 'flaky' on one side under his nostril, it looks like dried skin, he doesn't sneeze like i would class sneezing but he does these little 'ppfft' noises - is this a sneeze or is it another piggy noise?

does squeaking mean he is happy?
does a rumbling noise when i stroke him in my lap mean he is happy? or not?
how much fresh veg should he get a day? at mo i give him a chunk of carrot for brekkie
how often should i bathe him? what shampoo is best?

please any adivce would be great. :)

edited to take out swearword
 
Not too sure about the death part but my piggies get quite alot of veg, they have carrot, corn, apple (sometimes), cucumber, melon, broccoli, tomatoes and they sometimes get dandelions. At night they have cabbage, kale or lettuce.

Piggies dont always need a bath but if you want to you can do it every 3-4 weeks. I tend to bath mine when they get smelly.
 
Hi & welcome Lisa.

I'm sorry to hear about the poor little piggies :'( I'm wondering if the piggies have died because they are ill rather then fighting? Maybe you should take Asbo along to the vets to get him checked out.

They can eat a good variety of veggies & some fruit. If you go to the food section on this forum at the top is a Guinea Pig Shopping List which you should find useful.

It is best for piggies to have company but first you need to find out if little Asbo is in good health. You didn't say there was any blood when you found they others so to me it doesn't sound like it was fighting that caused their deaths?
 
Hi there! I'm sorry about your other pigs, but it does sound as if they were already ill when you bought them. I would take Asbo to a vet to get checked out, too. With regard to your piggie's irritated nose, are you keeping him on sawdust or woodshavings? My pig was kept on woodshavings at first (pet stores advise this, experts don't!) and he was always rubbing his noise and making lots of the noises that you describe. I changed to newspaper and hay as a cage dressing and had no problems since. Hope this helps!
 
i'm with the others here i think the piggies were probably already ill when you were sold to you especially if the were sharing same run or from the same litter etc
i would take Asbo to a vet just to check him over and then maybe try and bond him when he's a little older with a younger piggy
gideon gets snuffly nose but he has a bad chest so like people have already said it's important to take him to a vet just to get the all clear health wise

it is important to know though that it's not you're fault and piggies are allowed broccoli so wouldn't think this would be the reason

sqeaks can mean a variety of things depending on the pitch body language etc (don't worry you'll get to know each sound)

rumbling in my piggies means that there not that keen on what i'm doing usually if i stroke to near to there bum.

i feed my piggies veg twice a day but it's more important to get into a routine that works for you and stick to it.

and as for baths i tend not to bathe mine unless it's absolutely essential and then i use the shampoo that you can get from gorgeous guineas

hope this helps
 
Hi and welcome. :)

I'm so sorry you've had a rough start to guineas. I hope it gets better for you.

By the way, I have always had ASBO at the back of my mind for a guinea name. :)
 
thanks for the advice.

i don't think that fighting killed either - there was no blood.
as i said wayne literally pooed himself to death as in there was an abundance of diarrhoea in the cage - which is why i thought it was the veggies.

the cage has a layer of newspaper then hay as bedding, he also has a house made of grass - of which he has decided to eat a chunk of roof!
 
Hi Lisa,
Welcome to the forum and to the world of piggies.I am so sorry you have had such a sad start,and as others have said,they were almost certainly sick when you bought them.Take Asbo(great name) to a vet asap just to be on the safe side.,because there may be some viral or bacterial infection going on here.There was nothing you could have done because the deaths were so quick,and certainly broccoli would not have harmed them.I give my pigs brocolli quite often.

As someone else has said,they need a large variety of veggies,try and give them at least 3 different veggies at least twice a day.I expect you know that hay is very important and must be available all the time.I also give my pigs dried grass,even when fresh grass is available.Most of the salad,and veggies we eat are safe for piggies.,but be careful with beans,and only feed lettuce as an ocassional treat,.Iceberg lettuce should not be offered at all.

Once Asbo has been given a clean bill of health,do consider getting him a friend,he is young so should accept another baby o.k.It is far better to get a pig from a rescue.There are lots of piggies needing loving homes,and also rescues make sure the pigs they rehome are healthy.You could take Asbo with you to the rescue and they will try and find a suitable friend for him.
 
Yet again, more problems with guinea pigs bought from Pets at Home. I advise anyone and everyone NOT to buy any animals from there. I wont even begin to tell you the problems ive had from the pigs ive bought from there...... >:(
 
This is the second story I've heard from a different source about fatal diarrhoea in P@H guinea pigs. My friend got two and one died in the same way - it transpires she was female and pregnant so whether or not there is a link (toxaemia perhaps?) I don't know. I would report them to your local council environmental health - it is completely illegal to sell animals which are ill (which they obviously were to have gone down with illness so quickly).

I second Mary's good advice above.
 
So sorry to hear about your piggies.

P@H make me so mad! It's not just piggies, there's been a lot of sick rabbits from there recently too!

When Asbo has been seen by a vet, please, please consider a rescue piggie. There are so many needing loving homes!
 
I'm so sorry about your little piggies

I like Ronaldo but i like cristiano ronaldo lol

RIP Piggies xx :'(
 
thanks to everyone for the advice. took asbo to the vet today - they have given him baytril 0.1ml a day. they also told me that he didn't have ringworm!

they told me to use some juice when giving him the syringe, so that it doesn't taste so bitter
 
You need to give 0.4ml x2 of Baytril a day for it to work, otherwise you may as well not give any. You also need to give a Pro biotic such as Bio Lapis.
 
So sorry to hear about your guinea. I would take your other guinea to the vet just to see how he is doing. I think they were probably ill too. My p @ h store is quite a good one and I've had two gorgeous gunieas from them. I've touched lucky I know and would prefer a rescue centre if there was one around here but there isn't.

Anyway just wanted to say, not everyone has a bad experience but I hope you guinea is ok.

Hugs,

Louise
x
 
Asbo has been on the antibiotics since last week and the scabs have gone from around his nose, and the sneezing has almost back to normal. The fur around his nose has also started to grow bach. I've increased the amount of veg with vit C and that seems to have helped as well.

Does anyone know of a piggie rescue centre in south wales?
 
Hi Lisa,
Glad ASBO is doing OK!
I think there is a link on the rescue section for rescue centres.
I have a poorly piggy - also from Pets at Home - won't be buying anymore from pet shops..
 
If you do get another Guinea ask one of the pet store sales reps. if they have a health guarantee, and if they don't maybe you could go to a different store with a better health guarantee. The store where I got my Cavies has a 15 day health guarantee , plenty of time for symptoms of illness to show up.
 
Cavylover101 said:
If you do get another Guinea ask one of the pet store sales reps. if they have a health guarantee, and if they don't maybe you could go to a different store with a better health guarantee. The store where I got my Cavies has a 15 day health guarantee , plenty of time for symptoms of illness to show up.
Click to expand...

I hate the idea of this. If they're selling animals they should all be healthy, end of. No need for a "guarantee" that suggests they can be returned if they're defective. :(
 
I agree with you. I wonder what they do with the "returned" piggies,I dread to think.
 
that is why i will not be returning to a pet store of any kind. when ronaldo died i hadn't really had the chance to bond - less than 24hrs. so i took him back - not really thinking what would they do with his body. when wayne died i burried him in the garden there was no way that i could face the thought that they would be putting him in some bin in pets@home.
 
I would agree with SunshineandTwinkle, not all P@H stores are as bad as that, mines was great when I got Gizmo and Pixie a couple of weeks later, they took back the Rex that I'd got who bullied Gizmo terribly and exchanged her happily with Pixie. They gave great advice on helping them bond and introducing different veg at different times so you could check if they didn't take to a particular veg as the runs could be quite dangerous for the pigs.....

It wasn't P@H that I saved Spike from just in case you wondered..... O0
 
I just don't think it's fair that life is sold and exchanged like clothes or furniture. Spare a thought for the fates of the ones that are returned.
 
Doesn't bear thinking about. I had to have Cozzie when I met him because he had a huge abscess on the neck. I don't like to think what would have happened if he hadn't come to me...
 
it may be the case that some pets@home stores give good advice and do a good job. however my local store is mainly staffed by teenagers - who i doubt even know what they are looking for when they do a health check.
 
daftscotslass said:
I just don't think it's fair that life is sold and exchanged like clothes or furniture. Spare a thought for the fates of the ones that are returned.
Click to expand...

I wasn't meaning it to sound hard, buying and exchanging like clothes (our rescue of Spike should show that)....we had got Gizmo as our first lovely little Guinea and bonded with her so she was the priority, finding her a pal was the task, not taking a pig that would bully her >:(. It was probably a perfectly lovely pig, just not for our piggie family..... O0

Anyway, so glad to hear Asbo is on the mend, it makes you feel good that you helped them get better..... O0
 
Hi every1, so sorry 2 hear bout your 2 piggies :( and hope asbo is better soon! I got 2 female piggies a week ago from P@H in liverpool and they appear fine and lively, just a little scared still, i give them veg twice a day, they always have hay and dry food and water available, but as they are from P@H would it be worth taking them 2 the vets for a check up just incase as i've heard so many stories of sick piggies from there and i'd be so upset if anything happened 2 my piggies! x
 
if they seem healthy enough its probably not nessessary, just keep feeding them what you are doing etc..they will be nervey at first just give them time if you notice anything wrong then take them to your vets, i think it depends on the actual pets@home shops individually soe are ok and some are not that good with their livestock
 
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